Labour Day Classic Huge Success

The sun shone down on Brighton Speedway for the entire weekend during the 10th annual Lucas Oil Labour Day Weekend presented by Hutchinson Fuels. The camping area was jammed and the stands were full of Sprint Car enthusiasts got set for a double header of Southern Ontario Sprint car action that would see the 2012 series champion crowned at the end of the weekend. That along with appearances from all five Brighton Speedway divisions doing battle on the dirt track with Pro Stocks and Comp 4 doing double duty it was a jam packed weekend.

Saturday nights Sanderson Automotive Sprint Car feature saw a pair of Ohsweken Speedway regulars #0 Glen Styres and #07x Dain Naida start from the pole position and at the Green it was Styres that would jump out to the early lead with Naida trailing and #42w of Rick Wilson in third place. Styres’ Sprint Car was on rails and he looked like the car to beat as he worked his way through lapped traffic but Naida would continue to poke his nose on the high side as Styres ran down low. With three laps to go, Naida finally grabbed the lead with a run off the high side and would hold on for his second win of the season at Brighton Speedway and his first ever Labour Day Classic Weekend win. Behind Naida, Styres would come home second and Wilson would hold the final podium position with third place. #01K of Mikey Kruchka was making his second appearance of the season at Brighton and came home 4th place while #30 Adam West would cross the line next for a top five finish.

Other Saturday night winners includes #46 Warren Mowat picking up his first Bainer’s Radiator Canadian Modified feature of the season. #72 Doug Anderson picked up the Brighton Automotive Pro Stock win. In the Bill’s Johns Comp 4 division #44 Brandon Wilkie picked up the win but was later DQ’d in post-race tech handing the win to #03 Justin Ramsey. #19 Del MacGregor picked up the Quinte Septic Stingers win while Vanderlaan’s Building Supplies Late Models had the night off a number of drivers showed up on Saturday for hot laps and #29 Phil Potts won a special Dash for Cash.

Sunday throughout the day there were a number of events taking place on the speedway grounds for campers and fans to take part in. A bouncing obstacle course provided by Back Yard Bouncers, Good Times Lawn Tractor Pulls, a dunk tank for fans to dunk their favourite drivers, a race car show and shine along with a drivers points fund pig roast.

Sunday night saw a full field of 24 Sanderson Automotive Southern Ontario Sprint Cars hit the track for night two of the Labour Day Classic Extravaganza and #51Lee Ladouceur had a 78 point lead going into the final event over #5 Keith Dempster. Ladouceur would just need to have consistent night to win his second title in as many years. Sunday nights redraw for the Sprint Cars would take place on the front straight where a select number of children pulled for the top 9 positions on behalf of the drivers. As luck would have it the children would pull the #0 of Glenn Styres and the #07x of Dain Naida on the pole again while home town favourite Charlie Sandercock would draw third and the Joyceville Jet Rick Wilson starting forth. In a replay of Saturday night Styres would break out to the early lead followed by Naida, Wilson and then Sandercock. By lap 8 the four drivers would start to hit lap traffic and Naida once again was all over Styres. The two would swap the lead a few times with Styres on the bottom and Naida in the middle until Wilson would come through on the high side and make it a three car battle for the lead. Wilson would take a few laps but would work his way around the two and take over the lead. Styres would remain second but with lapped traffic the two would remain close with Styres just waiting for Wilson to make the slightest mistake. Meanwhile the battle for third had heated up as Sandercock was trying to work his way underneath Naida and the 01K of Mikey Kruchka would start to work night one’s winner Naida over for fourth. As the laps wound down Wilson was flawless in lapped traffic and pick up his first win since May and his 21st victory at Brighton Speedway. Styres would come home second and Sandercock would get his first Sprint Car podium finish. Kruchka would get by Naida in a drag race to the line to finish fourth and fifth respectively. Points Leader Lee Ladouceur would finish in ninth position securing his second Souther Ontario Sprints Points Championship and becoming only the second driver in SOS history to win back to back championships, the other was Glen Styres on 2007 and 2008.

Sunday night was also named topless night around the oval in honour of two special events. The Vanderlaan Building Supplies Late Models would race with their roofs of as well the Sprint Cars would hold a special wingless feature at the end of the night making both races topless. Greg Belyea would pick up the win in his topless Late Model well #5 Keith Dempster picked up the win in the top less sprint car feature narrowly holding of the driver that beat him on the points standings #51 Lee Ladoucuer. Doug Anderson made it two for two on the weekend picking up the win in the 50 lap Pro Stock invitational over Merrittville Speedway invader #4k Kevin Knapp. Justin Ramsey was also a double winner on the weekend picking up the 30 lap invitational for a $500.00 pay day in the Comp 4 division.

With the Sprint Car season behind us we move forward to focus on Late Models and Canadian Modifieds with the biggest races and car counts of the year coming up this Saturday with the second annual McDougall Insurance and Financial Great Crate Race for Late Models and the Johns Equipment Danny Reid Memorial for Canadian Modifieds / IMCA Cars. Both races have large purses and are expected to draw cars and drivers from Southern Ontario, all over New York State, even a few from Pennsylvania and Ohio as these invaders come in to try and take the big money from our local super stars in these two divisions. The Late Model Great Crate Race pays $5,000.00 to win and was a huge success last year drawing 28 cars. In its second season car counts are expected to hit as high as maybe 40. The $2,000.00 to win Modified race will see IMCA invaders from Brewerton Speedway bring their high horsepower Modifieds to compete against Brighton’s strong crop of 2012 Canadian Modifieds. Last year’s winner #11 Dan Ferguson will have his work cut out to defend home turf.

Don’t miss all the action this week as the Danny Reid Memorial and Great rate race take place Saturday September 8th. Gates open at 5pm well racing starts at 7pm sharp. For complete details on this event or other events at brighton Speedway visit www.brightonspeedway.com or email info@brightonspeedway.com